“MFG Day Motivates Youth to Pursue a Career in Manufacturing” By Michele Nash-Hoff, Saving U.S. Manufacturing Since 2012, thousands of manufacturers around the country open their doors to inspire and recruit the next generation of manufacturers on Manufacturing Day (MFG Day), which was held this year on Friday, October 5th. MFG Day is produced by the National Association of Manufacturers and the Manufacturing Institute. MFG DAY had ambitious goals: “to change public perception of manufacturing, inspire students to pursue manufacturing careers, and strengthen the future of manufacturing by avoiding the talent shortage on the horizon.” According to the MFG Day website, “We wanted to correct the idea that manufacturing involved repetitive, unskilled tasks that happened in dark, dirty factories — a ridiculous idea to anyone who has actually worked in manufacturing — and show people what manufacturing really looks like.” Those of us in the industry know that today’s manufacturing jobs are high skilled, and take place in clean, well-lit, technologically advanced facilities. The problem was that there was no way to know whether perceptions were changing until Deloitte became a sponsor of MFG DAY in 2015 and conducted surveys of attendees. The results of the survey of 2015 showed: 81% of students emerged “more convinced that manufacturing provides careers that are interesting and rewarding.” 62% of students were “more motivated to pursue a career in manufacturing” The 2016 survey results showed that the percentages rose to 84% and 64% respectively. The 2016 Deloitte report said, “Projections indicate that roughly 600,000 people attended MFG DAY events in 2016 and that 267,000 of them were students. That means that nearly 225,000 students walked away from their MFG DAY 2016 event with a more positive perception of manufacturing, according to Deloitte’s findings…. Based on the 267,000-student attendance figure, that’s potentially 171,000 new members of a next-generation manufacturing workforce.” The Deloitte surveys showed that “71 percent of student attendees both years said that they “were more likely to tell friends, family, parents, or colleagues about manufacturing after attending an event,” meaning that they weren’t just convinced — they were inspired.” This year, the MFG Day website listed 2,739 events planned across the...

By Leia Klingel, Fox Business Trump: We’ve added over 400,000 new manufacturing jobs President Donald Trump touts U.S. job growth during a Make America Great Again Rally in Charleston, West Virginia. Watch the latest video at foxbusiness.com The latest reading on America’s manufacturing activity has provided yet another piece of evidence that the U.S. economy is firing on all cylinders. In August, economic activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector hit its highest level since May 2004, according to the Institute of Supply Management (ISM). The ISM’s August manufacturing index was 61.3, above the 57.7 economists were expecting, and also above July’s 58.1 reading. According to ISM, sales of factory-made products, output and employment all increased in August, while inflation slowed. Recent tax cuts and strong consumer sentiment are positives for the U.S. economy, but manufacturers have expressed concerns about cost pressures due rising employee wages and supply chain inefficiencies. Additionally, survey participants voiced anxieties about how reciprocal tariffs will impact company revenue and current manufacturing locations. Of the 18 manufacturing industries, 16 reported growth in...

“China really is to blame for millions of lost U.S. manufacturing jobs, new study finds” By Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch Millions of Americans who lost manufacturing jobs during the 2000s have long ”known” China was to blame, not robots. And many helped elect Donald Trump as president because of his insistence that China was at fault. Evidently many academics who’ve studied the issue are finally drawing the same conclusion. For years economists have viewed the increased role of automation in the computer age as the chief culprit for some 6 million lost jobs from 1999 to 2010 — one-third of all U.S. manufacturing employment. Firms adopted new technologies to boost production, the thinking goes, and put workers out of the job in the process. Plants could make more stuff with fewer people. In the past several years fresh thinking by economists such as David Autor of MIT has challenged that view. The latest research to poke holes in the theory of automation-is-to-blame is from Susan Houseman of the Upjohn Institute. Academic research tends to be dry and complicated, but Houseman’s findings boil down to this: The government for decades has vastly overestimated the growth of productivity in the American manufacturing sector. It’s been growing no faster, really, than the rest of the economy. What that means is, the adoption of technology is not the chief reason why millions of working-class Americans lost their jobs in a vast region stretching from the mouth of the Mississippi river to the shores of the Great Lakes. Nor was it inevitable. Autor and now Houseman contend the introduction of China into the global trading system is root cause of the job losses. Put another way, President Bill Clinton and political leaders who succeeded him accepted the risk that the U.S. would suffer short-term economic harm from opening the U.S. to Chinese exports in hopes of long-run gains of a more stable China. No longer needing to worry about U.S. tariffs, the Chinese took full advantage. Low Chinese wages and a cheap Chinese currency CNYUSD, -0.6037% — at a time when the dollar DXY, +0.48% was strong — gave China several huge advantages. Companies shuttered operations in the U.S., moved to China and eventually set up...

“Manufacturers expanding at fastest pace in three years, flash PMI data show” By Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch U.S. economy is speeding up again, but inflation is warming up too, IHS Markit finds The numbers: American companies grew faster in April, especially manufacturers, in a reflection of a steadily expanding U.S. economy. But inflationary pressures increased as well. The flash IHS Markit U.S. manufacturing PMI climbed to 56.5 this month from 55.5 and touched a three-and-a-half-year high. Readings over 50 indicate expansion. A similar survey of service-oriented businesses that employ most Americans also rose. It edged up to 54.4 from 54. A flash reading is typically based on approximately 85%–90% of responses each month. At the same time, the survey showed the cost of raw or partly finished materials increased at the fastest pace in almost five years. Firms said the recently announced White House tariffs on steel as well as a large basket of Chinese goods were partly to blame. What happened: Businesses boosted production in April to match an increase in new orders. Companies also acted more aggressively to secure materials from suppliers because they are taking longer to deliver them. That suggests companies are running into bottlenecks, a potential hurdle for the economy if the situation gets worse. Tight supplies also mean higher prices — aka inflation. Even with new orders increasing, companies eased back on hiring. They focused more on improving efficiency — no surprise given a growing shortage of skilled labor. Big picture: The economy is ramping up for a strong spring, but shortages of skilled labor, rising inflation and the threat of widespread tariffs could put a cap on U.S. growth despite recent tax cuts and higher federal spending. Higher inflation could also spur the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates more aggressively, another potential drag on faster U.S. growth. What are they saying?: “After a relatively disappointing start to the year, the second quarter should prove a lot more encouraging,” said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS...

“China Lists $50B of US Goods it Might Hit With 25 Percent Tariff” By Joe McDonald, Associated Press Featured on Manufacturing.net China on Wednesday issued a $50 billion list of U.S. goods including soybeans and small aircraft for possible tariff hikes in an escalating and potentially damaging technology dispute with Washington. The country’s tax agency gave no date for the 25 percent increase to take effect and said that will depend on what President Donald Trump does about U.S. plans to raise duties on a similar amount of Chinese goods. Beijing’s list of 106 products included the biggest U.S. exports to China, reflecting its intense sensitivity to the dispute over American complaints that it pressures foreign companies to hand over technology. The clash reflects the tension between Trump’s promises to narrow a U.S. trade deficit with China that stood at $375.2 billion last year and the ruling Communist Party’s development ambitions. Regulators use access to China’s vast market as leverage to press foreign automakers and other companies to help create or improve industries and technology. A list the U.S. issued Tuesday of products subject to tariff hikes included aerospace, telecoms and machinery, striking at high-tech industries seen by China’s leaders as the key to its economic future. China said it would immediately challenge the U.S. move in the World Trade Organization. “It must be said, we have been forced into taking this action,” a deputy commerce minister, Wang Shouwen, said at a news conference. “Our action is restrained.” A deputy finance minister, Zhu Guangyao, appealed to Washington to “work in a constructive manner” and avoid hurting both countries. Zhu warned against expecting Beijing to back down. “Pressure from the outside will only urge and encourage the Chinese people to work even harder,” said Zhu at the news conference. Companies and economists have expressed concern improved global economic activity might sputter if other governments are prompted to raise their own import barriers. The dispute “may compel countries to pick sides,” said Weiliang Chang of Mizuho Bank in a report. “U.S. companies at this point would like to see robust communication between the US government and the Chinese government and serious negotiation on both sides, hopefully...